Sarah and Ellie After the Bar
by BillAtWork
Summary: After their night at the bar, Sarah and Ellie become best friends. And they find that each has issues that a best friend can really help with.
1. Best Friends

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_Sarah and Ellie at the Bar was just a one shot idea. But you know how much I love doing sequels. And it seems like there would have to be some fallout once Sarah sobers up and realizes that she just asked Chuck to propose to her and told him that she wanted to have his babies. That would be like trying to put out a bonfire by drowning it in gasoline, right? And there is a big issue on the show that I don't think that they adequately addressed._

_The first story was meant to be silly. This story will be longer, be a little more serious, and maybe even start out a little sad. But don't worry. I only write happy endings._

_And, no, I didn't offer this to Lucky47 as a scene for Family Matters (she had her chance, lol). To those many who suggested that I get her to hurry up with the next chapter, all I can say is, trust me, I'm trying my best. J_

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**Best Friends**

x-x-x-x-x

When Sarah could finally pry her eyes open enough to squint at the clock, all she could do was collapse back unto the bed face down and bury her head into the pillow in frustration. For one thing she never slept in this late. It was almost 10:00. Beckman was going to have a cow. They were supposed to be meeting in Castle with her, planning for the upcoming Berkshire mission in ten minutes.

Certainly Sarah had been hung over a few times before in her life as a super spy. It was something of an occupational hazard. But she probably had never felt quite like this. Her mouth felt like someone had scotch taped her tongue to the roof of her mouth. Her stomach was feeling more than a little queasy. But the worst thing was definitely her head. It felt like it might explode into a million pieces at any moment.

Finally she was able to gain enough consciousness to see the note on the nightstand next to the clock. She picked it up and forced her eyes to focus in order to read it.

_There is aspirin and water here for you. I called Beckman and told her you were sick. She was very cool about it. She said to tell you to take the day off and that you could consider that an order. Casey and I are meeting with her at Castle as planned this morning to go over some surveillance. We'll probably go out this afternoon and scout out some stakeout positions. No big deal. I'll bring home something for dinner._

_I just have to tell you, you were so cute last night._

_Feel better._

_I love you,_

_Chuck_

Even as miserable as Sarah was feeling she couldn't keep the smile from tugging at the corners of her mouth. That note was pure Chuck. As many times as she had witnessed it, it still never failed to get that certain tingle in her gut. He was once again being all sweet looking out for her, her guy at his amazing best. And while Sarah wasn't a playing hooky type person, she had to admit – the idea of having a day off all to herself felt surprisingly nice, normal even. So she grabbed three of the aspirin that Chuck had left for her, washed them down with a swig of the bottle of water, and collapsed back on the bed fully intending to sleep until Chuck got home.

Needless to say, she didn't quite make it. Around noon the aspirin and sleep did their trick and Sarah started to feel much better. And once she took that long hot shower and finally got dressed, she quickly realized why she never played hooky.

She was bored out of her freaking mind.

Was this the normal life that Chuck… that everyone always raved on and on and on about? If so, then she was in big trouble. There was no way for Sarah Walker to live a 'normal' life if this is what it felt like. She wanted to blow her brains out on the very first day. In desperation she turned on the TV. That was hopeful. After all their cable system offered 138 channels… and there was not one freaking thing on any of them that she was even remotely interested in. She was seriously considering disobeying Beckman's faux order, going to Castle, and joining the guys on their scouting mission. She was saved from doing just that by the doorbell ringing. She gratefully went to answer it. Anything had to be better than this. Even better, it couldn't be Morgan. Morgan would never ring the bell. He would just walk in.

x-x-x-x-x

"Are you mad at me?"

Sarah looked at Ellie standing there in the entranceway showing absolutely no sign of remorse. In fact she was definitely fighting back a grin. The question was clearly rhetorical. So Sarah made no effort to hide her own grin as she moved aside to allow her friend access to the room. "Furious," she replied in a teasing tone. "Would you like some tea? Or are we drinking something stronger? I don't think we have any tequila in the house. Maybe some vodka."

Ellie laughed out loud. "I think we'll settle for some tea," she said. "Maybe we'll save the tequila for the next time we go out and get wild."

Sarah joined her laugh. "No offense," she said as she moved to put on the teakettle. "But the next time we go out together, I'm ordering white wine."

That got them laughing even harder. "No offense taken," Ellie said when she could stop laughing enough to speak. "You do realize that enough white wine will eventually get you to the same spot?"

"I do realize that," Sarah said, still laughing. "Next time I'm pacing myself. Maybe I'll be the one carrying you home for once."

"Maybe," Ellie said. "Next time let's go to a little nicer place. Maybe we could go out and have some fun. How about we go to a club and go dancing? Chuck says that you're an amazing dancer. And that's something that Chuck and Devon would never want to do."

"I'd love to go dancing," Sarah sighed. "I love to dance. Before I met Chuck, it was probably my favorite thing in the world. But it's probably not a good idea."

Ellie's surprise showed on her face. "Why?" she asked.

"I know what would happen," Sarah said sadly. "The second you and I walked into a club, there would be a line of men sending us drinks and using that as an excuse to come over and ask us to dance."

"Okay," Ellie said hesitantly. "You're probably right. So what? What's wrong with that?"

"Chuck is insecure enough already," Sarah said sadly. "He is still pretty jealous. I'm really hoping that we can get past that soon. All he needs is to hear you telling him the details of hordes of men hitting on me at a club."

"That's sweet," Ellie said. "I'm happy that you're so protective of him. But why do you think that I would tell him anything?"

"You're his sister," Sarah said. "I get that you're protective of him as well."

Ellie lost most of her smile, but the twinkle in her eyes was still plain. "Let me explain something to you," she said. "I'll use small words and speak really slowly to make sure that you understand. Best friends know every detail about each other. They don't make any effort to hide how they truly feel. They tell each other things that they would never tell anyone else, not even their husband. Because they know that their best friend would understand when a husband wouldn't. They look out for each other. They trust each other. So when I tell you about the wild incredibly hot dream I had the other night starring the new intern, I trust you that it will never get back to Devon. Similarly you can trust me that the things you tell me will never make it back to Chuck."

"But you're his sister," Sarah protested.

"But you're my best friend," Ellie said firmly. "That trumps my brother in all sorts of ways. Oh, I agree there's a limit to that. If you told me that you were going to cheat on him, I'd try and talk you out of it until I was blue in the face. It might threaten our friendship. I might even demand that you tell him. But I expect that you would have pretty much the same reaction if I told you that I was going to cheat on Devon."

"I'd never cheat on Chuck," Sarah said, maybe a little harsher than she intended. "Never ever. Even thinking about it, even saying the words out loud makes me mad. That would destroy the nicest, most wonderful man in the world. If I was going to kill him, I'd at least be merciful and use a gun. If anyone ever came close to hurting him like that, I'd hunt them down and tear them apart with my bare hands."

Ellie smiled at the intensity of Sarah's righteous indignation rant. It was today's reminder of how lovesick she truly was. "I know," she said. "Just like I would never cheat on Devon. That's why we can be best friends."

Sarah's epiphany hit suddenly. This was nice. It was more than nice. Her relationship with Chuck was a first for her. But this was a close second… and just as unexpected. She found herself overwhelmed with the idea of having exactly what Ellie was describing. "I'd like that," she finally said. "You're going to have to help me a little. Maybe keep using the small words. This is a first for me. But I'd like it… a lot."

That got the return of Ellie's grin. "Me too," she said. "So it's settled. When we go on girl's night out to the club, drink a few free drinks, and maybe dance with a guy or two, it's between us. How about Thursday? I have the night off."

Responding to Sarah's distressed look, Ellie continued. "Come on, Sarah," she said with a dismissive laugh. "Dancing is pretty innocent fun. There is nothing wrong with you dancing with a man at a club, is there? As long as we firmly set their expectations. Chuck wouldn't have a problem with that just like Devon wouldn't, especially with us being together and having each other's back. In fact, you should calmly tell him all about it. His looking into your eyes and seeing that it meant nothing would be therapeutic for him. Besides, we'll both have our wedding rings to waive in any prospective suitor's face."

Sarah's face showed her confusion. "I'm not so sure that you're right," she said slowly. "Chuck is pretty jealous. I've sometimes hurt him in the past without meaning to. I'm trying to be very sensitive to that. Besides, I don't have a wedding ring."

"I'm very sure," Ellie said with her grin still in full force. "He may have been insecure in the past. I think you're going to find that he isn't nearly as insecure or jealous as you thought. You really helped him last night. And maybe you don't have a wedding ring yet. And you won't have it by Thursday. I guess you'll just have to settle for waiving around your engagement ring. I expect you'll have one by then. Hell, I'll bet a week's salary that you have one by this time tomorrow."

Again responding to Sarah's confused look, Ellie grinned even brighter. "You don't remember do you?" she asked. "You asked Chuck to propose to you last night."

"What?" Sarah asked in alarm.

"It was right after you told him that you wanted to have his babies and just before you asked him to take you to bed and ravage you," Ellie teased. "I'm not exactly sure what you meant by that but I am definitely going to use my new 'best friend' status to find out. So Thursday plan on describing in detail what ravage means to you."

Ellie paused for a moment to laugh. "You were going to go find your handcuffs," she continued. "What's up with that? I never saw Chuck as the ravaging type. I honestly don't think that it happened last night. You were pretty drunk. But I can almost guarantee that he has already been to the jewelers. I don't think I've ever seen him smile so big."

Sarah did the very last thing that Ellie expected. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh no," she sighed. "That's the worst thing that could have happened."

Suddenly Ellie's grin… and her giddy mood disappeared. "Why is that the worst thing?" she asked. "You love him, don't you?"

Sarah just stared at her sadly. "I do love him," she finally said. "It's not that. Come on, Ellie. You know that when people are drinking they say things that they don't mean."

Ellie's response was gentle but firm. "No they don't," she said. "When people are drinking they say the things that they are too afraid of saying when they're sober. Sarah Walker, do I really have to give you the best friend speech again? Talk to me."

Sarah paused for a long moment. "I'm not ready," she finally said. "I know what I sound like. But this has nothing to do with me loving Chuck. The honest truth is that I never thought that I could possibly feel this strongly for a man. I can't imagine my life without him."

"Okay," Ellie said. "So what's the real issue here?"

"You really want the best friend truth?" Sarah asked. "Okay, here it is. I don't trust him. I know damn well how awful that sounds. I'm not proud of feeling this way. I wish I could stop. I hope to get over it… soon. But the fact of the matter is that I don't fully trust him."

Ellie paused for a long moment. "Okay, sweetie," she finally said. "Talk to me. This is Chuck. Why don't you trust him?"

Sarah's smile was sad, but it was a smile.

"What has Chuck told you about what happened in Prague?"

x-x-x-x-x


	2. You Have to Tell Him

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_I could write an entire chapter ranting about what I hated about Pink Slip… and Season 3 in general when it comes right down to it. I came close to joining the couple of million people who gave up on the show and never returned. To this day, I have never watched Fake Name. IMO, the Chuck they had been selling us on for 2 seasons would have never, ever, freaking ever, treated Sarah so callously in Prague. It was totally OOC, throwing his character under the bus, all to set up one more stupid round of wt/wt that we had already grown fatigued with anyway. The proof that it was gratuitous is that you can throw out the first 13 episodes of S3, start S3 with Honeymooners, and almost nothing would have to change. It was pure angst for angst's sake. I'm convinced that the show that started S3 off with Honeymooners would still be on the air. I even think that TPTB now realize that Prague and the trapezoid it spawned was a fatal mistake._

_But it did happen. So let's deal with it._

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**You Have to Tell Him**

x-x-x-x-x

"You have to tell him."

Sarah looked at her new best friend sadly for a long moment. "How can I tell him something like that?" she asked dejectedly. "How can I tell him that I don't trust him? It would crush him."

"But you don't trust him," Ellie said gently. "Sweetie, you have to tell him. He's going to propose to you tonight. If you're not going to tell him, what's your plan?"

Sarah paused for a beat. "I don't know," she sighed. "I guess I'll just say yes. I'm going to get over this someday. I'm sure of that. I do love him. Why put him through all of this angst? The very last thing that I want to do is to hurt him. This could really damage us."

Ellie finally found her smile. "Can I tell you something?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "You need to take a deep breath and calm down a little. You're positively panicked. Listen to your best friend here for a second, one who loves you both. You and Chuck are going to be okay. It is so obvious to anybody who bothers to look that there is zero question about it. I've never seen two people any more lovesick than you two are. There is almost nothing that could damage your relationship with him, certainly not this. Stop worrying about it so much."

Ellie waited for her return slight smile and nod before continuing. "But having said that," she said. "You need to tell him. He needs to understand how much he hurt you. I seriously doubt that he does. You need to understand why he did what he did. Chuck loves you, Sarah. He's always loved you. He has a valid reason for what he did. I don't know what that reason is. But I do know that he has one. Make him explain that reason to you. Make him understand that you have to trust that he'll never hurt you like that again before you can commit to spend the rest of your life with him… and that hurt simply isn't going to go away overnight."

"I can't tell him that," Sarah said. "He'll misinterpret what I'm saying. Chuck is insecure as it is. He'll read way more into it than I mean. Then he'll go running off to Morgan who will talk him into the worst possible interpretation. I just can't do it. It would crush him. I'll just start crying."

Ellie grabbed her hand. "Sarah, Chuck isn't nearly as fragile as you fear," she said. "I get that talking about feelings isn't your strong suit. But this is the rest of your life that we're talking about. Make sure that he knows how you feel. I'm afraid that you have no choice. It's either deal with it now, or have it cloud your relationship forever."

Sarah shook her head firmly. "I'll just start crying," she repeated. "I never cry, Ellie. It's an emotion that a spy simply can't afford. But whenever I think about how devastated he is going to be, I just start crying."

That got Ellie positively grinning. "Sarah, take one more deep breath and just listen to what you're saying," she said as she squeezed the hand she was holding. "You're more worried about hurting Chuck's feelings than telling him the honest truth about how he devastated you. You're absolutely head over heels lovesick. If it wasn't so adorably cute, it would border on pathetic. And here is the best part. He is just as lovesick as you are. Believe me, I'm not downplaying anything that happened that day. You definitely need to resolve this. But this issue is pretty insignificant compared to what you have with him. It's been almost a year. Do you really think that this one problem can ruin the amazing thing that you two have going?"

That actually got the beginning of a smile, faint true, but clearly a smile. "I guess not," Sarah said.

"Of course not," Ellie reassured her. "Stop worrying so much about it. Yes, it's going to be an uncomfortable conversation. I get that. Maybe it would be best if I called him and primed the pump a little for you. But I'd only do that if you want me too. Best Friend rules totally apply here. Tell me exactly what you want me to say to him."

Sarah nodded gratefully. "That would help," she said. "Thanks."

Ellie looked around the room uncomfortably. "We've only been best friends for a day now," she said slowly. "And, sweetie, I know that this is going to sound judgmental. I'm saying this totally out of love. And you need to understand, I'm not taking Chuck's side on this. I'm absolutely not. He hurt you, and it was stupid, and he fully needs to understand that. But are you sure that trusting Chuck is really the issue here?"

Sarah looked up. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," Ellie continued with as much smile as she could muster. "You've been a spy for all of your life. From all accounts, a damn good one. You just almost said it yourself. Are you sure that you can truly trust anybody?"

"That's what it takes to be a wife."

x-x-x-x-x

Casey knew that whoever Chuck was talking to on the phone, the conversation wasn't going all that well. In some ways it was a blessing. Bartowski had been positively bouncing off the walls all day. It was actually nice to have him be a little quiet for a change.

Casey didn't have to ask, not that he ever would. There was only one thing that could have him so… so… so annoyingly giddy all day. And conversely there was only one thing that could now have him sitting there numbly, on the verge of tears.

As much as Casey appreciated the quiet, it's not like he wished Chuck any pain. He didn't. Clearly Bartowski and Walker were on the fast track. That was pretty clear even before she moved in with him. It was actually a little hard to believe. A burnt out, total bad ass like Sarah Walker living with a man, any man really – without even a cover to explain. And sure, he never passed up an opportunity to jab them about the sickening lovesick schoolgirl act they clearly had going, but the honest truth was that he was happy for them. It was sorta a miracle they had gotten together in the first place. It was one of those one-in-a-million underdog type deals that you couldn't help but root for. Indeed, they were almost the last two people on earth you would expect to ever become a couple. But they were good for each other. It was hard to argue against that. They made each other better… as spies maybe, but certainly as people. One was strong in all the ways where the other was weak.

And whatever was wrong, Casey knew that Bartowski would never be able to concentrate on the mission at hand until it was fixed. He wasn't developing any soft lady feelings. That was for suckers. He was just being a good partner.

So he told a white lie.

"I forgot something I need to do at home," Casey said. "We'll need to swing by my place. You can go in for a minute and check on Walker."

"I'll meet you back in the car in fifteen."

x-x-x-x-x

Ellie had just left when Sarah heard the door open. She wasn't expecting to see Chuck until tonight. Frankly, it was probably better this way. She didn't have all afternoon to talk herself into a panic. One thing was for sure, Sarah was glad that she had talked to Ellie. Before that talk one look at Chuck's devastated face would have had her quickly bawling.

"I just need to know," Chuck said. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Now Sarah was really glad that she had talked to Ellie. So she put as much smile on her face as she could muster. "If you really knew how I felt about you," she said, trying to keep the mood as light as she possibly could. "Chuck, if you could just look inside my head and see what is in there, you'd be embarrassed at how silly that question was."

Chuck didn't smile, far from it. But he did take a deep cleansing sigh.

"Besides," Sarah continued, still trying to keep the mood light. "You're the one who always does the breaking up, remember?"

But Chuck clearly wasn't going to take this lightly. He just stood there sadly.

Sarah knew that she had to do something quick or she was going to break down. And that was the last thing that she wanted. So she stepped up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and squeezed with everything that she had. "Please stop," she said softly. "Chuck, you're making way too big of a deal about this. This is exactly why I feared having this discussion. I knew that you'd read much more into this than I mean."

Chuck finally found his voice. "I hurt you," he said. "I mean, I really, really hurt you. I can't tell you how horrible I feel."

"Yes," Sarah said without loosening her grip one bit. "You hurt me. There is no way to pretend that didn't happen. I think you always knew that. I just seriously don't think that you get how much. It was the worst moment of my life."

"Why haven't you told me this before?" Chuck asked.

Sarah paused for a long moment. "It's complicated," she finally said. "There are several reasons. For a long time I was embarrassed, mad at myself that I had allowed myself to be in a position where anyone could destroy me like that. Spies aren't ever supposed to let that happen. So I was really, really angry for a long time."

Sarah was hedging more than a little. It was actually more than being angry. She didn't want to tell him that she had given up on love, that she had decided that love was for suckers, and to accept that she was a spy. So for a long time she totally dedicated herself to her duty. She especially didn't want to tell him about the seduction mission with that Giles slime ball that she never would have volunteered for before… the one that she enthusiastically threw herself into out of spite. Or why the stupid, stupid, stupid thing with Shaw became so easy… for basically the same desperate reason. Those things would really mess him up even more than he was already messed up. They would have to wait to be discussed in a calmer time.

"Anyway," she continued. "After we finally got together, I thought for a long time the fear would eventually fade away. And I still think that it will. It already has a little. But mainly I didn't want to tell you because I knew what would happen. You'd overanalyze this like you always do. Then you'd blame yourself, and make this a much bigger deal than it is. Chuck, I'm not trying to make you feel horrible. I actually feel horrible about that myself. But, sweetie, can't you see? Before we can agree to spend the rest of our lives together, I need to trust that you will never hurt me like that again. I can't go through that again. It would end me."

"I would never hurt you like that again," Chuck said. "It breaks my heart that you doubt that."

"I don't doubt that," Sarah said quickly. "Come on, sweetie. If I did, I wouldn't be standing here. This is exactly what I feared. You'd overanalyze this and come to a crazy conclusion. Chuck, I know that you'd never intentionally hurt me. I absolutely know that. But I have to feel it."

"Okay," Chuck said slowly. "So what can I do to make you feel it?"

Sarah again paused for a long moment. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "This is my issue. I get that. I'm pretty sure that it will eventually go away on its own. I wouldn't have even brought it up now. Except that Ellie tells me that I apparently got drunk last night and asked you to propose. I was going to just to say yes and spare us both all of this drama. But Ellie convinced me that you deserved to hear the honest truth from me for once."

With her face buried in Chuck's neck, she couldn't see his expression. But for the first time she could maybe detect the hint of a smile in his voice.

"With friends like Ellie, I'm not sure that I need enemies," Chuck said sarcastically.

For the first time, Sarah saw a way out of this… and she eagerly grabbed for it. "Maybe you're right," she said. "Why don't we just forget today happened? You do what you were going to do, and I'll accept. I'll even be excited about it."

Sarah could feel him shaking his head. "No," he sighed. "Ellie is right, damn her. I hurt you. I could never look you in the eye knowing that you're still hurting. That's the last thing I would want. We have to fix this."

Sarah knew that she loved Chuck. And even that sounded trite somehow. She had feelings so powerful that she couldn't begin to explain them, even to herself. But she had never felt closer to him than at this moment. He was setting aside his guilt, even his fear, and was looking out for her. It was the sweetest guy in the world at his very best. So she tightened her grip even more. "Okay," she said. "What do you propose? Umm, that didn't come out right. You know what I mean."

Chuck wasn't in any place that would allow him to see any humor in this situation. Not yet. And probably not any time soon. So he let her bad pun slide without comment. "Let's talk about what happened," he suggested. "Maybe it would help you to know what I was thinking. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I think that I can prove that to you. I have some questions for you as well. Can we have an honest talk?" _Like why Shaw was the first to learn your real name?_

"That's a good idea," Sarah agreed. "Talking about feelings is hard for me. But I'll honestly try."

"I'll have to call Casey," Chuck said. "He's expecting me to go with him and scout out stakeout locations. He can probably do this by himself."

"No way," Sarah said firmly. "You're making this too big of a deal. The mission comes first. We can talk tonight. I'll use my afternoon off and see if I can make us something nice for dinner. Hopefully I can avoid burning down the house."

Chuck still couldn't find any humor in the situation. "Okay," he finally said. "But understand something. This is a big deal. You're hurting. That's always going to be a big, big deal to me. Especially when I'm the cause. I want a promise from you."

"What kind of promise?"

"I know you," Chuck said. "You'll tell me that you're okay when you're really not. I don't want that. We have to honestly fix this. So promise me that you won't do that."

That actually got a smile. Did he know her or what? "I promise," she said. "As long as you promise me that you won't spend all afternoon making this a bigger issue in your head than it really is."

Chuck broke the embrace and looked at her for the first time. "I'll try," he said. "Understand something. This is already a very big deal to me."

"I know," Sarah said as soon as the kiss broke. "It's sweet."

x-x-x-x-x

"Maybe prime rib was a little ambitious for your first cooking lesson."

Sarah looked at her best friend's face, covered in floor. She knew that her face looked just as bad. But somehow that didn't matter. Their giggling had taken away almost all of her guilt. "Maybe," she agreed when she could stop giggling. "I feel horrible about making you spend your one day off over here cooking."

"Are you kidding?" Ellie said mockingly. "I'm having the best time. Speaking of having good times, I assume that your talk with Chuck went well. You're positively giddy."

"We really haven't had the talk yet," Sarah said, her grin still plastered all over her face. "I'm letting him off the hook."

"Really?" Ellie asked, honestly surprised. "Why? I thought this was something you needed to resolve."

"I'm being stupid," Sarah said. "You were right this morning. I'm lovesick. Maybe it's time I started acting like it. I've got the nicest, sweetest guy in the whole world. The basic truth is that I'm lucky to have him. So I'm going to make his favorite meal. I'm going to serve it to him basically naked. After we eat, I'm going to apologize for giving him such a lousy afternoon. Then I'm going to make the rest of the night all about him. You might not want to hear the specifics of my plan. It's pretty vivid."

"You're right," Ellie laughed. "I certainly don't." Then she got a little more serious. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Chuck owes you an explanation."

As Ellie was speaking, Sarah's phone started ringing. "I'm sure," she said as she went to answer it. "You were also right this morning when you said that I didn't trust anybody. If I don't trust Chuck, then I don't deserve him. That horrible history is just that… history. I'm happy now. That's all that matters. That's probably Chuck worried about me. How sweet is that?"

But it wasn't Chuck.

"Agent Walker," Beckman said briskly as soon as she picked up the phone. "You need to report to Castle as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid that I have bad news."

x-x-x-x-x


	3. The New Team

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_Let's talk a little about the timeline of this story and where it fits into canon. The time line from the show has always confused me a little. I see this taking place sometime around Anniversary, very early S4. So in the show, Ellie must have been about 6 months pregnant at that point, right? Clearly she would be showing. She had the baby 13 weeks later in Push Mix. But a six months pregnant Ellie certainly wouldn't be tricking Sarah into drinking multiple shots of tequila matching her shot for shot, or inviting her to go dancing at a club. So maybe it's better if Devon and Ellie wait until this story is over to start a family. J_

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**The New Team**

x-x-x-x-x

"I'm going with you."

Sarah… no wait, Agent Walker knew that this was not the time for panic. As much as it was trying to consume her, she simply couldn't allow that to happen. Chuck was in trouble… and he needed her. He needed Agent Walker at her very best… not lovesick schoolgirl Sarah. Making lovesick decisions was the way to get him killed. So she was able to give herself a little pep talk and push the panic down into that place where all of her personal emotions went on a mission. But this was also clearly a time for some urgency. So she talked while she was quickly changing into her classic black mission outfit. "No way," she said briskly. "Ellie, this isn't fun and games. This is as real as it gets."

Ellie didn't back down one bit. "I get that," she insisted firmly. "Do you really think that I don't get that? Sarah, I'm going with you."

Sarah paused for a moment to look into her eyes. "No way, Ellie," Sarah repeated. "This is far too dangerous. I can't allow anything bad to happen to you. Please don't ask me to make you a part of this nasty life."

Ellie knew that there was no time to waste. So she softened her tone and tried to take the desperation out of her voice. "I'm already part of this nasty life," she said calmly. "Remember the deal with that Shaw creep? So you're a little too late on that one. Anyway it's a little arrogant to think that you're the one who did that to me. That blame, if that's even the right word, goes totally on my dad. So are you really going to go off and leave me sitting here knowing what I now know? Are you really going to make me stay here all alone and know that my brother and best friend are in danger? That I may never know what happened to them? Are you really going to make me pace the floor all night, powerless to do anything to help while I worry and assume the worst? Come on, Sarah. You can't do that to me. You're not that cruel."

Ellie had just stumbled onto possibly the one argument that could make Sarah consider this. Because she knew how it felt to be helpless. It was very possibly the worst feeling in the world. There was something in Ellie's eyes and in her tone, a resolve there that was hard to ignore. "Okay," she finally said. "I'm not trying to be cruel. I'll take you to Castle with me. Maybe Beckman will agree to let you stay there and keep you informed. But, Ellie, understand something. There is no way in hell that she is ever going to allow you to participate in any mission."

x-x-x-x-x

There was one thing that Sarah hadn't counted on. Once they got to Castle it was plain that Beckman was even more panicked than she was… if that was even possible. It was obvious by her face. She didn't even say a single word about Ellie standing there in plain sight listening to every word.

"What in the hell happened?" Sarah asked as soon as she was facing the monitor where Beckman sat at her desk. "This was a nothing assignment." Indeed, Clyde Berkshire was a low level drug smuggler who Chuck had flashed on in the restaurant a few nights ago. It normally wouldn't have been an important enough assignment for a group as valuable as Team Bartowski. In fact Sarah had openly snickered when Beckman gave them the details. But they were in something of a lull mission wise, and she had some vague intelligence that Berkshire was funneling his drug profits to suspected terrorist groups. That was enough to interest the CIA. And they weren't really busy at the moment. So it was hard to protest when Beckman ordered them to find out what Berkshire was up too. "They weren't even going to contact him. They were just picking out a good stakeout spot to watch."

If Beckman noticed Sarah's edgy tone and lack of proper decorum, she didn't say anything. "I know," she said. "The whole thing was obviously a setup. After we did some digging, it turns out that Clyde Berkshire isn't a low level drug runner. He's a far bigger player. He is a medical doctor, apparently he led The Ring's project to create their own Intersect, and he has some known associations with Volkoff Industries."

That surely snapped Sarah's head up. "Volkoff?" she asked. She knew the name well. All agents did. Alexei Volkoff had been public enemy #1 since before Sarah was in grade school. She immediately got a very bad feeling. "Why wouldn't Chuck have known that Berkshire was a Volkoff associate? Or that he did Intersect research for The Ring? He flashed on the man. Surely that information would be in The Intersect. And why would Volkoff want Chuck anyway?"

Beckman just glared for a long moment. "Answer your own question, Agent Walker," she finally said with no hint of humor. "We don't know why The Intersect didn't have those details about him. It certainly should have. That in itself is more than a little disconcerting. It's one of the things that we need you to find out. It's very possible that the meeting in the restaurant the other night where The Intersect flashed on him was intentional. Luckily you were sick today and not with them. Otherwise you'd almost assuredly be captured as well. Do I have to remind you how important Bartowski is or what he represents? He knows all of our secrets. We simply can't have him falling into Alexei Volkoff's hands."

Sarah had heard enough. "Forget about the damn secrets," she snapped. "We have to save Chuck."

Beckman did an obvious double take. "I know," she said tersely. "Berkshire is currently on his way to Baltimore for the American Neurological Association Annual Meeting. We suspect that he will be using the event as a cover to make contact with Volkoff's people. We need you to go there and see if you can find out where they are holding The Intersect and how they are planning on handing him over."

"His name is not 'The Intersect'," Sarah snapped in clear anger. "His name is Chuck."

Ellie watched Sarah and Beckman glaring uncomfortably at each other for a long moment. "The ANA?" she finally asked, more to break the tension than anything. "I was invited to speak. I would have loved to go. I just couldn't work it out with my schedule. Maybe I could…"

Beckman ignored Ellie and continued to glare at Sarah. "I know full well what his name is, Agent Walker," she snapped.

Sarah finally tore her angry gaze away from Beckman and turned to Ellie. "Forget it," she said. "There is no way that you're going to Baltimore with me."

"But, Sarah," Ellie protested. "Think about it. I'm a doctor. Neurology is my specialty. I'm supposed to be there. He wouldn't suspect me."

"Forget it," Sarah repeated firmly. "Ellie, you don't understand men like this… or what they're capable of. It's far too dangerous. You don't have a clue what you'd be getting into here. I can't allow it."

"Let's not be too hasty," Beckman interrupted. "This actually might work out. Agent Walker, go and make arrangements to get to Baltimore ASAP. Doctor Woodcomb, could I speak to you privately for a moment?"

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was in that dreamy zone somewhere between being awake and sleeping. He eventually became aware enough to hear someone calling his name. Was someone slapping his face? Suddenly he was jolted awake. He quickly shook his head, more on instinct to get rid of the horrible odor of smelling salts. When he opened his eye he was staring into eyes of the man he instantly recognized as Clyde Berkshire.

"Mr. Bartowski," Berkshire said. "How nice of you to join us."

Chuck took a moment to shake the cobwebs out as he looked around the room. The Intersect was fully engaged. It had already checked the integrity of the cuffs that had his arms and legs securely fastened to the chair. It was clearly actively searching for an escape path. When it finally came to the conclusion that escape wasn't possible, he glanced around the room. His eyes came to rest on Casey. He was bound in a similar fashion and still unconscious. "What's up with him?" Chuck asked.

"Don't worry," Berkshire replied. "He's perfectly fine, for now anyway. For how long is mostly up to you. He's our Plan B. I don't like Plan B much. Cutting off fingers is rather messy. Let's try and avoid that if we can, shall we?"

Chuck glared at him for a long moment, more to show that he wasn't afraid than anything. "Okay," he finally said dismissively. "I give. What's Plan A?"

Berkshire just laughed. "Why Mr. Bartowski," he said. "Isn't it obvious? You're Plan A."

"Like you really believe that I would help you in any way," Chuck spat out. "Seriously? You'll never get away with this."

"Yeah," Berkshire replied. "I understand what you mean. The blonde. Too bad that she wasn't with you. My intelligence was wrong. I've been told that she is always with you. She is definitely a complication. By the way, I think that congratulations are in order. She's incredibly hot. It seems such a shame."

Even though he knew it was futile Chuck struggled against the cuffs. "If you touch a single hair on Sarah's head," he growled. "I'll…"

"Relax," Berkshire interrupted. "I'm not going to harm the lovely Agent Walker. I'll leave that all to you."

Chuck was a little confused. So his response was less than smooth. "Huh?" he asked. "Me?"

"I'm sorry," Berkshire said in a faux comforting tone. "I really haven't explained this very well, have I? You see, I'm going to show you a series of flash cards. There is a, well, I guess that you'd call it a flaw in The Intersect. I prefer to think of it as a feature. Each one of these flash cards is going to remove a year from your memory."

When Berkshire held up the first card, Chuck writhed in pain for a long moment. "When we're finished," he said as he held up the second card. "You're going to be a senior at Stanford. You're lucky. I wish I was back in college. Parties, young women, not a care in the world. I'm afraid you've never met Agent Walker. But don't worry. Things will work out. You'll see."

"You're going to become our very incredibly powerful little soldier."

x-x-x-x-x

_"Chuck, I can't take this. This is something real, something that you should give to a real girlfriend."_

_"I know."_

Sarah looked at the bracelet sitting comfortably on her wrist. She normally saved wearing it for special occasions. Certainly she would never wear it on a mission. She made a mental note to take it off as soon as they got to Baltimore. It's just that it was such a special memory. It was comforting. It even made her forget for a moment the panic that was threatening to consume her.

"Hello! Earth to Sarah."

When Sarah was finally able to shake herself out of her mini daydream, she saw Ellie grinning at her.

"You haven't heard a single word I've been saying," Ellie said. "Have you?"

It was hard to get Sarah Walker to blush. But that quickly did the trick. "I'm sorry, Ellie," she said sheepishly. "I was just thinking about something."

"What were you thinking about?" Ellie asked.

It would have been easy for Sarah to tell her that she had been planning on what to do when they got to Baltimore. It's probably what she should have been thinking about. But she looked at her best friend's face all lit up like a Christmas tree. Suddenly she wanted to talk about this with her best friend. "I was thinking about the time when Chuck gave this to me," she said, holding her wrist up for Ellie to see.

Ellie's grin broadened even more. "I knew it," she said. "Tell me all about it."

Sarah opened her mouth to speak. "Don't forget," Ellie interrupted. "This is one of those 'best friend' moments I was talking about. I want every sappy detail."

"It was so romantic," Sarah sighed with something of her own growing smile in spite of the tension. "It was on Christmas Eve that night when we were being held hostage. Our relationship was complicated. Technically it was a cover. I tried to tell him that I couldn't take it, that this was something real, something that he should only give to a real girlfriend." Sarah paused for a moment to gather her composure. "He just said 'I know' and put it on my wrist."

"I hate to be the one to tell you," Ellie said in a faux serious tone. "But your mother's bracelet isn't something that you give to a real girlfriend. It's a family heirloom, something that you want to stay in your family. He never gave anything like that to Jill. It's something that you save and give to the person who you want to spend the rest of your life with."

Sarah was still struggling to gather her composure. But that got a definite twinkle in her eyes. "I know," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "We had been dancing around for about a year. But that was the first time that I knew for sure that he was in love with me." Sarah paused for a long moment to blink back the tears. "I wanted so badly to tell him," she finally was able to get out. "Ellie, you'll never know how much I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him that I loved him too. I just couldn't do it. I was such a bitch. I hurt him. I allowed this amazing man, the only man I've ever loved, to twist in the wind for almost two years. I'd give anything for the chance to talk to him again… to be able to tell him how sorry I am."

Ellie knew that she had to change the mood. So she playfully bumped shoulders with Sarah. "Stop thinking like that," she said. "Of course you're going to talk to him again. Sweetie, I've never seen anybody so lovesick. I'm really not sure if I should make fun of you or cry at how romantic it is. Yes, of course, you've made mistakes. But guess what? So has he. And here is the good news. Your love has been tested… and you passed. You don't know how lucky you are. You know without any doubt that it's real. That's why you have to talk about it with him. It's not a threat. It'll clear the air." Ellie paused for a moment to look around the private jet that Beckman had acquired to take them to Baltimore. "I didn't realize that spies traveled in this much luxury," she said with a grin in a clear attempt to change the subject. "I'm actually looking forward to seeing Agent Walker in action. If she is half as bad-ass as Chuck tells me, I'm almost feeling sorry for the bad guys."

Sarah Walker had perhaps never before in her life needed to hear anything like she needed to hear that. But then she realized that Ellie was in far too good of a mood. This was her brother. "Okay," she said with narrowed eyebrows. "Exactly what did General Beckman tell you that has you in such a good mood anyway? I want every detail."

Ellie shrugged. "She told me that you were on the edge," she said with her grin not fading even a little. "I'm not in a good mood. I'm as worried as you are. But she told me that for you to be effective you had to start thinking rationally. She wanted me to calm you down a little. I think in her heart she's worried about you. That actually makes some sense. So my job is to keep you from panicking. Oh, she also told me that as long as she allowed Morgan Grimes to go on a mission, she might as well let me go on one. I've decided to take that as a compliment."

Sarah smiled at Ellie's tone. "You're doing a good job calming me down," she said. "So thank you for that. I hate to be the one to break this to you."

"But Beckman doesn't have a heart."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was still sitting bound in his chair. Berkshire had left some time ago. Suddenly she burst into the room.

"Chuck, thank God that I found you. I've been looking everywhere."

She worked quickly to unlock the cuffs. As soon as she had him free, she threw her arms around his neck and urgently pressed her lips to his. "Let's get out of here before they come back," she said frantically as soon as the long kiss broke. "We have some serious things to talk about. But first we have some work to do. I've really missed you."

Chuck stood up with a toothy grin and stretched his arms.

"I've really missed you too, Jill."

x-x-x-x-x

_A/N: Okay, deep breaths. You know me well enough to know that things are not always what they seem. I think that the show missed a huge opportunity by not bringing Jill Roberts back. I'd think that Sarah might enjoy having a little chat with her. Don't you?_

_By the way, there really is an American Neurological Association. They actually do have an annual meeting in Baltimore. I'm not sure if they have a Dr. Eleanor Woodcomb attending, lol._

x-x-x-x-x


	4. Two Doctors and One Enforcer

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_Since the last chapter ended with something of a cliffhanger, I wanted to post this one ASAP. So if this is a little shorter than usual, that's why._

_Look, I know where I left things is an opportunity for a huge angst fest. If you're looking for angst or a triangle crisis, I'm sorry (I'm not really that sorry, it just seemed the thing to say), this story might not be for you. It most definitely isn't going to be that. I don't write those kinds of stories… mostly because I don't like to read them. This, like all of my stuff, is a love story – a story of friendship… of family. It is a story about heroes, the sacrifices they sometimes are forced to make, and the realization that going forward maybe some priorities need to be adjusted. You'll find out where this is headed very soon._

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**Two Doctors and One Enforcer **

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck stood up and looked around the room. "Where are we?" he asked.

Jill smiled and reached out to cup his cheek lovingly in a clear attempt to reassure him. "It's a long story," she said. "One that we really don't have time for right now. I promise to tell you everything as soon as we're safe. Look, baby, I know that you're scared and confused. They gave you some drugs to make you forget some things. You're going to have to trust me. I love you. You know that I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I do trust you," Chuck said. "Absolutely. Of course I do. Why don't you tell me the short version? Who is 'They' anyway?" He paused and nodded his head towards Casey who was still unconscious. "And who is this guy? He must be our friend if he's captured too."

Jill looked around anxiously. "'They' are the CIA," she said. "As it turns out, your roommate was a spy. I'm not sure who this guy is. Right now I'd say that he is not our problem."

"Bryce Larkin from Connecticut is a spy?" Chuck asked skeptically.

"I said that he _was_ a spy," Jill said sadly. "I'm afraid that he's dead."

"Bryce is dead?" Chuck asked in alarm. "What happened?"

Jill's expression got even more frantic. "Baby, please. We really don't have time for this right now," she said. "I'm so sorry you had to hear such horrible news like that. I promise that I'll tell you every single thing. For right now, his partner killed him. I don't know all the details myself. But apparently she is some super evil bitch who has gone rogue. We're going to have to get out of here before she comes back and kills us. We're going to have to deal with her sometime soon."

"Right," Chuck said sarcastically. "And just how are you and I going to deal with some bad-ass CIA Agent? This sounds like something out of a bad science fiction movie." Chuck took a step and stumbled. "I'm still a little woozy."

"I know," Jill said as she stepped up and gave him a short peck on the lips. "Baby, you've been through a lot in the past few days. I've been worried sick. Why don't you rest here for a minute and I'll go make sure that we're clear. I'll be right back."

"Fighting against the CIA," Chuck said dejectedly. "What chance do we have? We might as well wait here for her to come back and finish us. Do we even know her name?"

"We have assets," Jill said with something of a smile. "In fact we have the advantage. That's why she is going to be so desperate to find you. I'm afraid that's the part that is going to take some time to explain. We're going to use their own invention against them. As it turns out I now have a very powerful fiancé. Once you learn how to use your new power, she'll be no match for you."

"We do know her name. It is Sarah Walker."

x-x-x-x-x

"Well, Ellie," Sarah said. They were finally in their hotel room in Baltimore - the hotel where the AMA convention was already underway. "It's time. You know that this is against my better judgment."

"Duly noted," Ellie said, with a tad more edge than she really intended. "Sarah, I get that you're worried… about Chuck and about me. I absolutely get that. I'm not wild about the situation either. But saying it every five minutes isn't helping. I'm a big girl. We're in this situation… together. Look, I get that I'm not a CIA Agent, not even close. In fact, and no offense here, there are parts of being a CIA Agent that would probably horrify me. But until Chuck is safe, I'm simply going to set that aside. You need to understand something. There is very little that I wouldn't do to keep him safe. So I have no choice. He needs us, the two women in the whole world who love him. You're going to have to start thinking of me as your partner. Let's get on with it."

"Okay, Ellie," Sarah said with a sigh. "I guess you're right. I'll stop. We have no choice. But you also need to understand something. You just said that there was very little you wouldn't do to keep him safe. There is absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do to keep him safe. So I'll treat you like a partner. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to be careful. We can't help Chuck if we get captured ourselves. I'm hoping that this jerk won't make the connection between Chuck and you. You don't have the same last name. But we don't know that for sure. I'll be listening to your every word on comm. If things get even the slightest bit tense, I'm coming in with guns blazing. The second you hear any shots, immediately fall flat on the floor and don't get up until I come and get you. I'd love to have a little chat with this creep. Try and get him someplace where we can grab him without being seen. Maybe make up some interesting doctor thing."

"Maybe," Ellie said with something of a grin. "But I think that I might have better success if I make up some interesting flirty girly thing."

Ellie laughed out loud at Sarah's stunned look. "Why do you think that I stopped coming to these conventions anyway?" she asked. "I hate to be the one to tell you this. But CIA Agents didn't invent the concept of sex. Although I suspect this is also true of other professions, a fair amount of doctors historically come to conventions as an excuse to get out of town and cheat on their wives. And since the men outnumber the women here about four to one, it practically guaranties that any female between the age of 18 and 90 is going to be hit on incessantly. I learned the hard way. If you innocently act even a little friendly they are all over you."

Ellie's grin took a decidedly evil turn. "Besides, being a little flirty is a good way to get a man's attention," she said. "That's what we're going for, right? Come on, Sarah. Are you really this naive? A beautiful girl like you? I'm surprised that you don't know that."

As tense as the situation was, Sarah couldn't help the grin that came over her face. Just like her brother, Ellie could pretty much always make her laugh. "Very funny," she said. "You're a regular comedian. Maybe after this is over we can go to Vegas for a weekend and you can try your hand at some stand up."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Jill stepped out of the room she fished out her cell phone.

Dr. Berkshire answered on the first ring. "What is your status?" he asked. "Did it work?"

"Just like we planned," Jill replied smugly. "I told you. Chuck Bartowski is nothing but amazingly loyal. Now that he thinks we're engaged, he would do anything to protect me. And that's even before any sex. Give me tonight and I'll have turned him into a lovesick puppy that would walk through hell to bring me a glass of water. He'll be begging Mr. Volkoff to think of creative ways for him to help the cause. Once he realizes that Sarah Walker is a threat to me, he'll make it his life's work to deal with her. All I'll have to do is stand aside and watch while The Intersect ends her… as slowly and as painfully as possible."

Berkshire paused for a long moment. "Is the sex really necessary?" he asked softly.

Jill laughed into the phone. "Come on, Clyde," she said. "This isn't the time or place for jealousy. We're too close to the brass ring to allow anything to trip us up now. Besides we've talked all about this. You know that it is absolutely necessary. I'll have him eating out of my hand… among other places."

"You sound like you're looking forward to it," Berkshire said sadly.

"Maybe a little," Jill admitted in a teasing tone. "The man had an amazing skill. And that was before The Intersect. I imagine he could really get me going now. Maybe after Volkoff delivers us our private island, we can get him to give you some lessons. You have to admit. You're a little orally challenged."

Jill looked at the silent phone for a long moment. "Come on, sweetie," she finally said. "You know that I'm just teasing you a little. I love you. Besides, I most definitely owe that Sarah Walker bitch as much pain as I can possibly deliver. You're helping me. Trust me. Once we're on our private island drinking rum all day, you can invent some really wild ways for me to show my gratitude. I'll make you forget that Chuck Bartowski even exists."

Berkshire finally found his smile. "It seems only fair," he said. "After all, you're making him forget that Chuck Bartowski even exists."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah stood on the opposite side of the convention hall, watching as Ellie approached Clyde Berkshire. The hotel worker uniform that she had bribed her way into allowed her to blend right in with the crowd milling about so that she had no concern of him spotting her. Ellie was certainly right about the horny doctors. Apparently hotel workers were a favorite target. Maybe it was just blondes. Or maybe Ellie was again right and she was simply a female between the age of 18 and 90. Whichever, she had already been hit on twice in the last ten minutes.

Suddenly she saw Berkshire talking to a man. The blue suit was classic agent mission uniform. This could be the break that they needed. So she spoke into her watch. "Ellie," she said. "Abort your contact. I think that I have another plan. Meet me in the room in five."

If Ellie was at all nervous, she sure didn't show it. "Okay," she said calmly. "See you in a few."

Sarah waited until what was clearly an agent finished talking and followed him into the hallway. Ellie was certainly right about the flirting. Not that Sarah needed the lesson. But once they were alone a single smile stopped him in his tracks, just like it would most men. She knew that she could play the 'poor working girl trying to snag a rich doctor' role and have him in her room in a few scant minutes. Unfortunately for the agent in question, Sarah wasn't in a flirting mood today. And it was definitely something that she didn't want to have to explain to Chuck anyway. That happened far too often as it was. So she went with Plan B. She stuck her gun into his side. "Do you like that kidney?" she growled.

"If you want to keep it, I'd suggest that you come with me."

x-x-x-x-x

When Ellie got to the room, Sarah was waiting for her in the hall.

"Ellie," she said. "You want me to treat you like a partner? Fine. I'm going to treat you like a partner. Here's the deal. I'm going to do whatever it takes to find Chuck in the shortest amount of time with absolutely nothing off the table. The guy in that room knows where he is. That means I'm going to have to get creative in making him talk. The thing is, I'm very good at this. My nickname used to be 'The Enforcer'. If watching The Enforcer in action is going to make you at all squeamish, it's probably better if you wait out here."

If Sarah expected any reaction from Ellie, it certainly wasn't the grin that was all over her face. "Sex?" she asked in anticipation.

In spite of the incredibly tense situation, Sarah couldn't keep in the laugh. It came out pretty wet. Her new partner was clearly taking her job as the calming influence seriously. "Would you please stop with the sex stuff?" she asked in faux annoyance. "Spies actually have other weapons besides sex."

"So," Ellie said skeptically as soon as she could stop laughing. "You're telling me that spies don't ever use sex?"

"I'm not saying that," Sarah said playfully. "Of course spies are taught to use sex. In fact some use it far too often. For me, it always would have been a last resort. And that was before being with Chuck took it totally off the table. I'm just saying that we have other skills as well. I seriously think that you've watched one too many James Bond movies. You're starting to sound just like Carina. I'm so worried about you."

"You owe me some stories," Ellie said. "And don't forget, best friend rules most definitely apply to this discussion. I'll need every lurid detail. But that can wait for a calmer time. So what are you going to do to his guy? Beat him up? Break his fingers?"

"Maybe," Sarah said thoughtfully. "If he makes me. I'll be more likely to cut a few of them off. I'm going to play that one by ear."

"You know, there might be another way," Ellie said. "I'm guessing that spies are trained to hold out against torture for as long as possible. So it's going to take some time to actually inflict enough pain to get him to talk. What if we scared him? That might be faster."

"Spies don't scare easily," Sarah said. "Whatever we do has to be credible."

"Don't worry," Ellie said. "I know just what to do. I've treated enough patients to know what really scares a man. Let me be the good cop for a while. It might work."

"It might," Sarah reluctantly agreed. "I'll give you a few minutes. But then we do things my way, agreed?"

"They have my brother," Ellie said sadly. "Agreed."

x-x-x-x-x

"You're bluffing," the agent said smugly. He was cuffed to a plain chair in the middle of the room. "You're not going to cut off any fingers. It would be against the rules. We both know it."

Ellie stepped between the agent and Sarah. "You're actually right," she said with a smile. "My partner here was just kidding about the fingers. That's messy and never really all that effective. It's simply not her style. But you're totally wrong about the reason."

Ellie paused a moment to judge his reaction. "The man that we're looking for," she continued. "He is her fiancé. He's my brother. So if you think that anything as minor as some silly interrogation rules are going to stop her… well, that would a serious miscalculation on your part."

Ellie turned to Sarah. "Please don't do this," she pleaded. "At least give him a chance. A big, strong, good looking man like this. It would be such a shame."

Sarah wasn't sure where Ellie was going, so she played it straight. "I guess that's up to him," she said.

The agent finally spoke. "What's up to me?" he asked.

Ellie sighed. "Do you know what a eunuch is?"

The agent simply shook his head.

"I didn't think so. In the middle ages, they used them to guard the king's harem," Ellie explained in her best Professor Woodcomb voice. "You see, Bub, men without testicles can't be seduced. It's kinda physically impossible."

"You're bluffing," he said quickly.

"Look at her face," Ellie said sadly. "Tell me that you seriously think that she's bluffing."

The agent glanced over to Sarah who suddenly had one of her knives in her hand and was brandishing it menacingly.

"This is totally your call," Ellie said. "But please tell her something. I hate seeing this happen, especially to someone with so much to look forward to. It's not so much the pain. I mean she always makes sure that it's excruciating. That's sort of the point she's trying to make, right? But that's not the worst part. Unlike a finger, testicles can't be sewn back on. Imagine a lifetime of never having sex again. Most men don't want to continue living after that."

After a long, uncomfortable moment, Ellie turned to Sarah. "I tried my best," she said. "I guess that you were right. He's all yours. At least sterilize the knife before you cut him. That last guy got an infection. Not that it mattered all that much. He quickly lost his will to live anyway. I'll help you take his pants off."

"Okay," the agent finally blurted out. "You win. Please don't cut anything. I'll tell you what you want to know. There's nothing that you'll be able to do about it anyway."

Normally Sarah would have found some amusement in the way Ellie was clearly gloating. Not this time. In fact her face turned noticeably white as she listened to his tale of using the Intersect to take away the last ten years of Chuck's memories. "Oh my God," she finally whispered. "Ellie, he's never met me. He thinks that he's still with Jill. This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. She'll be able to talk him into anything. Loyalty is his strongest attribute."

Sarah's eyes darted around the room in panic. "He'll still know you," she said. "Maybe you can explain things to him. Please, Ellie. Talk to him for me. At least give me a chance. Morgan… Morgan can help. He'll believe Morgan. Maybe…"

Ellie's heart broke as she watched the panic consume her. "Sarah," she interrupted firmly. "Can I speak to you privately for a moment?"

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they were in the hall, Ellie grabbed her hand. "There is no reason to panic," she said.

"No reason?" Sarah asked incredulously. "No reason? Chuck thinks he is with Jill Roberts. Who knows what she is doing to him right now? They are probably in bed. That means she now has control of an Intersect 2.0."

"No she doesn't," Ellie said softly. Responding to Sarah's confused look, Ellie continued. "What you're talking about would have been very possible a year ago," she said. "Dad and I identified the design flaw some time ago. I fixed it at the same time I eliminated the need for a governor. Even the CIA doesn't know this. There is no way they could have taken away his memories. That code is no longer inside of him. I'm absolutely positive of that."

Sarah was still confused. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would he…"

They both came to the same conclusion at the very same time.

"He's playing her," Sarah finally said. She slumped against the wall as she just allowed the relief to wash over her. "He's playing her."

"Don't worry," Ellie said. "When we find him, I'm kicking his ass. Why would he intentionally put us through that?"

Suddenly before Sarah could answer, her phone rang.

"That was Beckman," Sarah said as soon as the call ended. "She has very good news. Casey has escaped. He is on his way here to meet us. She verified what we just guessed. Chuck is just pretending to go along. Beckman says that Casey has a note from Chuck for me. We now have a new mission."

Ellie was still incensed. "I am so kicking his ass," she growled.

"No, Ellie," Sarah said with a huge grin. "Think about it. Chuck is a spy. He's doing the right thing. He's playing them to find out what their true objective is. He's doing this to protect us. The honest truth is that I've never been so proud of anybody in my whole life. I can't wait to be able to tell him." Now it was Sarah's grin that turned evil. "I might actually even use some of that sex stuff that you're trying to teach me about."

Ellie looked at her friend about ready to bounce off the ceiling. "You really are pathetic," she said in faux disgust. "I've never seen anybody so lovesick."

"I know," Sarah sighed. "Isn't it great?"

"It's more than great," Ellie agreed with her grin fully back in force. "But I'm still going to kick his ass. When Casey gets here, let me handle him. This spy stuff isn't nearly as hard as I once feared."

Sarah was now absolutely giddy as she allowed the relief to continue to consume her. "You're really growing as a spy," she said mockingly. "I'll give you that. At least you finally took sex off the table. I assume anyway, right?"

"Or should I warn Casey?"

x-x-x-x-x


	5. The Note and the Nerd

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_Okay, so the weather outside is frightful. Seventeen inches of snow last night. But inside it's so delightful. So since I've no place to go… I wrote another chapter. :)_

_One of the decisions the show made that I really didn't care for was Chuck promising Ellie that he would leave the spy life, then breaking that promise and lying to her about it. Not only did it make Chuck look bad, I think Ellie and Devon were far better characters when they were part of the team. If their point was that being a spy meant you had to make sacrifices in your personal life, well I like that. But I do think there were better ways to make that point. The sacrifices should be real… and maybe ultimately not worth it._

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**The Note and the Nerd**

x-x-x-x-x

"I am so kicking his ass. He promised me."

Sarah grabbed her best friend's hand. "He felt terrible lying to you," she said softly. "You have to know that. I don't blame you for being upset. But he felt terrible. We both did. We talked about it all the time."

"Then why did he?" Ellie demanded. "Why did you?"

Sarah paused for a moment. "Do you want the short answer?" she finally asked. "Or the long one?"

Ellie finally remembered her assignment… and how important it was. So she clearly took a moment to take a deep breath and calm herself. It would be an exaggeration to say that she had a smile on her face. But there was no longer anger flashing in her eyes. "Let's start with the short one," she said. "We can work from there."

Sarah took her own deep breath. "He really did quit," she finally began. "For a while anyway. That part wasn't a lie. Then he got a message that your dad had set up before he was killed. It turns out that your dad has been looking for your mom for the past twenty years. He asked Chuck from the grave to take over the search for him. How can you turn down a request like that? He felt like he had to do it. He didn't want you to worry. Anyway, the only way to have the resources to be able to find your mom was to get back into being a spy."

"He's looking for Mom?" Ellie asked, clearly surprised. "I've almost forgotten that I have a mom. Where is she?"

"We don't know," Sarah admitted. "Chuck might be getting closer. All the CIA knows is that she was captured on a mission some twenty years ago."

"A mission?" Ellie asked. "Are you telling me that my mom used to be a CIA Agent, just like you? Who captured her?"

In spite of the tension, Sarah smiled. "Being a CIA Agent isn't something that you ever 'used to be', she said. "Once you become one, it's sort of a lifetime thing. At best, they can sometimes allow you to become inactive, at their sole discretion. Ellie, take a deep breath, clear your head, and listen to me for a minute. I'm not exaggerating one bit. So hear what I'm telling you. Joining the CIA isn't like joining the PTA. Things like morals or rules don't mean all that much to them. Things like right and wrong are, at best, a grey area. They fully expect that you complete whatever assignment they give you, no matter what that means you have to do, no matter what the personal cost. If you don't, they will find some creative way to punish you. And they're not above using your loved ones as part of that punishment. You were joking about using sex. Ellie, sex is the least of it. That's something that maybe you should carefully consider before getting too chummy with General Beckman. When you get involved in this life, you're involving Devon and your marriage if you want to or not. He should get a vote."

"I understand," Ellie finally sighed. "I already know what his vote is going to be. Devon is a good, good man. He loves Chuck just as much as I do. You're right. He deserves to hear the risks plainly and object if he wants too. But by your logic, I'm already involved in this life. I'm your and Chuck's loved one. I don't remember getting a vote."

Ellie saw the devastated look on her face and smiled to let Sarah know that she was mostly teasing. "For the record," she said. "I really wasn't joking about the sex. You still owe me some stories."

Sarah returned Ellie's smile in relief. She was so clearly trying to lighten the mood. "I understand," she said. "Don't worry. Your best friend is going to come through. I'm not going to cheat you out of any lurid detail. I think that's something that needs to happen after a few drinks. So it will have to wait until Chuck is safe." Then she turned more serious. "You asked who captured your mom," she continued. "We don't totally know yet. But a lot of signs are pointing to Alexi Volkoff."

"Wait a minute," Ellie said, eyebrows furrowed deep in thought. "Alexei Volkoff? Isn't he the one who Beckman thinks is behind capturing Chuck? Who is he?"

Sarah grinned at Ellie's perceptiveness. "You're right," she said. "He is. Here's the deal. Beckman doesn't know what we know about your mom. No one does. Your dad kept his search all to himself. So she had no way to make the connection you just did. I'm not sure how much to tell her. For now anyway, I think I'm going to keep this from her."

"Why?" asked Ellie, honestly surprised.

Sarah paused for a long moment. "Didn't you just hear what I told you about the CIA?" she asked. "Ellie, I wasn't kidding a single bit. Beckman has her own agenda here. I'm not saying that she's bad necessarily. But she would do whatever it takes to advance that agenda. In doing so, Chuck's safety simply isn't high on her list of priorities. By the way, neither is our safety. If we want to protect Chuck, we're going to have to be the ones to look out for his best interests. Sometimes that means keeping things from her."

That got a grin. "You're totally lovesick," Ellie teased. "You keep proving it over and over. You want to play the role of this bad ass cold CIA Agent without rules or feelings? Give me a break. We both know that's bullshit. This is your best friend standing here. That means you actually have a best friend. You just choose Chuck over your duty. He's what is most important to you."

Sarah was forced to smile back at how totally Ellie had just nailed her. "Okay," she admitted. "Gloat about it if you must. It wouldn't have been true when you first met me. I know you don't believe that… but it's true. I'm not even exactly sure when it happened. But it was a long, long time ago. Now Chuck is what is most important to me. I'll admit it. I'm totally lovesick. This is a new feeling for me… one that I'm not even sure how to deal with. And, yes, I now have a best friend. It's also a brand new experience for me. Are you happy now?"

Ellie's grin broadened. "I'm very happy," she said. "About that anyway."

Sarah fought for a long moment to gather her composure. "Me too," she finally sighed. "But, Ellie, we have to be smart about this. Beckman has her own way of finding out things. If she gets a whiff that we're holding out on her and stops trusting us, things could get really nasty, really fast. I'm not trying to be a downer here. But I just don't want you to get your hopes up for a happy ending with your mom. That's one of the main reasons that Chuck didn't want to tell you about her. It's been twenty years."

Ellie paused for a moment then nodded. "So where is John in all of this?" she asked. "He'll be here any minute. Do we have to hide things from him?"

"Here's the deal," Sarah said with her grin returning in full force. "In his own gruff, emotionally stunted way, Casey is just as lovesick as I am. He'd just rather die a gruesome grotesque death than admit it. So no, we don't have to hide anything from him."

"That's good," Ellie said. "I'll take your word on him being lovesick. So what do we do?"

"We have to assume that capturing your mom and Chuck are related in some way," Sarah said thoughtfully. "It also probably has something to do with Chuck being the Intersect. You asked about Volkoff a couple of minutes ago. That would take more time to explain than we have right now. Even I don't know all that much about him. But he is one of the richest, most powerful men in the world. Big surprise, he's not very nice. The CIA has been after him for as long as I know about. He's very politically connected. Taking him on will be dangerous. Especially when we don't have a clue what he's specifically after."

"So right now, I think we have to depend on Chuck to get us some Intel."

x-x-x-x-x

Jill led Chuck on the ten minute walk to the hotel. Maybe 'led' wasn't the proper word. It was more like she dragged him there. The very second that they were in the hotel lobby, Chuck flashed on the place. _The Baltimore Hotel Monaco. Pretty swanky. And a long way from home. It must have taken some time for them to transport me and Casey all the way to Baltimore undetected. This was clearly well financed and planned. Sarah must be frantic._

Chuck stayed silent until they were safely in the room. One thing was for sure, there was no way in hell that Jill Roberts, the college student he knew ten years ago, could ever afford this room. 'Room' was actually not even all that accurate. This was a high-roller luxury penthouse suite; complete with flowers, fresh fruit, a king bed, a huge TV that covered one whole wall, and an even bigger hot tub. He knew that Jill would expect him to quickly call her on that. It was also a major screw up in their mission planning. That huge LED television hadn't been invented ten years ago. It would be interesting to see if she could explain that apparent hole in the plan. "This is your room?" he asked. "Jill, how can you possibly afford something like this?"

Jill grinned as she leaned in to give him a quick peck. "Of course not, silly," she said. "This isn't my room. It's our room."

"Okay," Chuck said in frustration. "So how can we possibly afford something like this?"

Jill already had the phone in her hand. She held up a single finger to tell Chuck to wait until she was off the phone. Even hearing only one side of the conversation, Chuck could tell that she was plainly ordering room service.

"Baby," Jill said as soon as she ended the call. "I know that you're confused, maybe even scared a little. That's perfectly understandable. They messed with your head. I promise to tell you every single detail. But we're safe now. Can we maybe just calm down for a minute and enjoy this moment? Please? I've really missed you. I was afraid that I would never see you again. So relax as much as you can and trust me a little."

Chuck knew that she had just pressed his button. Trust was the card she was going to play to control him. And it would have been a good strategy. So he nodded.

"Thank you, baby," Jill said with an even bigger grin. "I just ordered your favorite meal. While we're eating, I'll tell you the whole story. After we eat, we can get in the hot tub. The short answer is that we have a very rich, powerful friend. He saved us from the CIA. He's making sure that we're going to be very well taken care of. Yes, we have problems. But they have unwittingly turned you into a very powerful person. That makes you incredibly valuable. If we play our cards right we can end their evil plot, do the right thing for a lot of people, and live like this for the rest of our lives."

"That sounds good, doesn't it?"

x-x-x-x-x

_Casey,_

_I unlocked your cuffs. Not sure yet what their end game is. They think that they took away 10 years from my memories. Jill Roberts is part of the plot. She's telling me that we're engaged. I'm playing along for a while to see if I can find out what they are up too. They definitely want me to capture or kill Sarah. Others may also be trying._

**_Protect her at all costs._**

_Tell her not to worry about me and that I love her very, very much. Give me a couple of days._

_!10v3$ r h_

Sarah looked up from reading the note that Casey had just handed her. It really contained far many more questions than it did answers. "This is all you have?" she asked. "Exactly what did Chuck say to you?"

Casey was clearly as frustrated as Sarah was. "I haven't talked to him," he said. "Best I can figure, we must have been tranqed. When I woke up, I was alone with my cuffs unlocked. I went looking for Bartowski and found his note in my pocket. When I contacted Beckman, she told me to come here. You now know everything that I do."

Sarah quickly briefed Casey on what they had learned from their captive who was currently taking a nap courtesy of the drug Ellie had injected into him. For the first time, Casey's smile was relaxed. "Now our boy really became a man," he said. "Bartowski is a spy."

Sarah's mind immediately flashed back to the first time that Casey told her that, in Shaw's cell. In spite of the tense situation, she couldn't help the smile from taking over. "I know," she said. "I don't think that I've ever been prouder of someone." Her smile turned a little evil. "You're not going to tease me that I picked a good one? Finally? Casey, you disappoint me. You're impressed with his growth as a spy? I'll gladly tell you all about his growth as a boyfriend. It's equally impressive."

Casey's face turned noticeable red at her overt teasing. "No thanks," he said. "My stomach is a little upset as it is." He quickly changed the subject. "What is that stuff at the bottom?

Ellie quickly looked at the note that Sarah had just handed her. Then she glanced at the two spies just looking at each other without an answer. "Nerd code," she said simply.

Ellie laughed as they as one turned their confused looks towards her. "Chuck and Morgan play this game all the time," she explained. "They encrypt their emails. You have to know the password to read them. He made a password that is cryptic, yet easy to remember. It means that he is going to try and send us an email."

"How is this easy to remember?" Casey asked with a growl, his brief good mood now gone. "It looks like random garbage to me."

Ellie ignored Casey's gruffness. She was pretty used to it anyway. "That's because you don't understand Chuck's system," she said with a grin. "You replace key letters with special characters and numbers. An 'S' becomes a dollar sign, an 'O' becomes a zero, an 'I' becomes an exclamation point… stuff like that. What it really says is 'ilovesarah'… sweet… in a kinda lovesick puppy dog, almost sickening way."

Ellie watched the grin growing on her friend's face as what she was saying sunk in. Now it was her turn for the smile to turn evil. "You might be competent spies," she said in faux resignation as she shook her head sadly. But you totally suck at being nerds."

"It's a good thing I'm here."

x-x-x-x-x

Not they would ever realize it, but Clyde Berkshire was currently only two floors below Sarah, in his own suite. There was a group of men listening intently to him as he was on the phone.

"Jill ordered room service," Berkshire said with a grin as soon as he ended the call. "She ordered a Greek salad with extra beets. That was our code that everything is perfectly on track with Bartowski. She is playing him like a violin. She was exactly right. She's going to be able to get him to do anything she wants."

"Frank is missing," one of the men said. "And that Agent Casey escaped. What do you think that means?"

Berkshire's grin faded considerably. "I don't care much about Agent Casey," he sighed. "We were going to kill him anyway. But that Walker bitch is going to be a real problem. She must have Frank. We have to assume she now knows what we did to Bartowski. Fortunately there is no way that she could have gotten Frank out of the hotel without being seen. So she must still be here someplace. Send somebody to the front desk with her picture. Nobody who looks like Walker could check in without the clerk remembering her. Once you find her room, send a couple of men."

"Yes, sir," the man replied. "Should we kill her?"

Berkshire rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not yet," he said. "Not unless you're forced to. She might come in handy. Rough her up a little and bring her here."

"I'd like to have a little chat with her."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck had to admit one thing. For clearly being an evil bitch trying to manipulate him into killing Sarah, Jill really was good at ordering room service. And she still did know his favorite meal. The prime rib simply melted in your mouth. And since he hadn't eaten in, well who knew how long, he was starving. So he attacked the meal with a furor that surprised her.

"So let me get this straight," Chuck said, ignoring Jill's ever growing grin at his appetite. "CIA Agent, Bryce Larkin stole a government project to protect it. His partner killed him hoping to claim the project for her own and sell it to the highest bidder. But before she killed him, he sent it to me in an email. So now, I have all these super powers. That means that she is looking for me… to kill me."

"Exactly," Jill said. "Except she probably isn't looking to kill you. That's going to be a very last resort for her. She wants you alive. I keep telling you, Chuck. You're very valuable. We're going to use that to our advantage."

"Okay," Chuck said as he pushed away from the table and walked over to the TV, inspecting it closely. "What is this? I've never seen anything like this before."

"I keep telling you," Jill said with a touch of annoyance. "We have a very rich friend. This is all research stuff. I knew that you'd be interested, so I asked for some toys. You see this computer? It's ten times faster than anything you've ever seen before."

Jill's voice finally showed more than a hint of annoyance. "Baby, I want you to play with your new toys," she said. "I do. After all, that's why I asked for them for you. But, come on, I haven't seen you in weeks. Can't you wait for a while? We still have to plan how to deal with this Sarah Walker bitch."

Chuck had already had his fill of being called 'baby.' He never really cared for the term ten years ago anyway. And in this situation it was starting to grate. "Okay," he said with a pout as he returned to the table. "You know that I can't kill anyone."

"I know," Jill sighed. "And actually we don't want to kill her. She's pretty valuable as well. Our new friend would like a chance to rehabilitate her. We'll need to capture her."

"How are we going to do that?" Chuck asked skeptically. "She sounds pretty bad ass. We don't even know where she is."

"Don't worry, baby," Jill said. "She is very, very bad ass. But she is no match for you. She knows that better than anyone. Once she realizes that we're on to her, she wouldn't even try and resist. She'll quickly surrender. And we don't have to know where she is. She's going to find us." Jill's look definitely turned icy. "I won't deny that I'm going to enjoy seeing you slap the cuffs on her. She's caused me a fair amount of pain. I'd definitely like to turn the tables a little."

"Payback is a bitch."

x-x-x-x-x


	6. Chuck vs Sarah

_I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point._

_Yeah, I know. Bad title. Not to worry… well, about that anyway. :)_

_One of the things that I wished the show would have explored is a Lon Kirk or Manoosh type assignment after they were together. Would Sarah have accepted that kind of assignment? Would Chuck be okay with it? She certainly flirted with men on missions after they were married. In Zoom, she reluctantly even went farther than just flirting._

_And yeah, I get why TPTB didn't go there. After the debacle of the Season 3 trapezoid, they were totally afraid of any more relationship angst. But it didn't have to be like that, did it? What would be wrong with them having an honest discussion and deciding together how much personal sacrifice they were willing to make to remain spies and where that line was? I'm going to approach that from the opposite view. Now it's Chuck's decision in how far to go to protect his cover._

_If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It only takes a second – and it really, really makes a difference. That's probably more important than ever now that the series has ended. If you want to keep the Chuck fandom alive and continue to read about these characters, you really need to think about rewarding the people whose hard work make that possible._

**Chuck vs Sarah**

x-x-x-x-x

There was one good thing about General Beckman. The very instant that Casey called her and briefed her on the situation, she promised enough agents were in route from Langley to invade a small country. They would take Clyde Berkshire and anyone in his general vicinity into custody and find out what in the hell their plan was. Team B was to stay put until they arrived.

That naturally brought out the doctor instincts in Ellie. Casey had been unconscious for over a day. That wasn't good for a man of his age. So she insisted, like only Dr. Eleanor Woodcomb could, that she thoroughly examine him. She finally pronounced that he would probably live. But she did demand that he take a nap. Of course it wouldn't be Casey if he hadn't vigorously resisted that idea. After all, there was the very real possibility of bad guys to kill. And he reasoned that he'd been sleeping for almost two whole days anyway. But Dr. Woodcomb was having none of it. Being unconscious wasn't the same as sleeping. So she gave him some pills to help him relax and pushed him into the bedroom. Despite his protests he was quickly snoring.

Now it was time for Dr. Woodcomb to turn her attention to her next patient. "Come on, Sarah," she said. "It's after noon and you haven't eaten a thing yet today."

Sarah was frankly not in the mood to eat. Her stomach was too much in knots due to the situation with Chuck for food to sound remotely attractive. But she also knew Ellie. There was no way for the doctor to allow her best friend to not eat. So she grudgingly allowed her to order some sandwiches from room service.

Sarah was so worried about Chuck that, when the room service food arrived she allowed Ellie to answer the door. It was a sloppy mistake that an agent the caliber of Sarah Walker wasn't ever supposed to make. Indeed Ellie's eyes were as wide as saucers when the two men pushed the porter out of the way and entered the room. One was holding a gun. The other brandished a very large knife.

"Agent Walker," the big, honestly rather homely dude with the knife sneered. "Room service? Really? Pretty sloppy. We were led to believe that you were better than this."

Ellie was backed against the wall, clearly shaking, with her hands up in the air showing surrender. "What do we do?" she whispered. "Maybe I can distract them."

Sarah really wasn't in the mood for this. She was already on edge and more than a little pissed off. And these two creeps were the topper of a very frustrating day. But she had to admit, Ellie's offer was a little funny. So she turned and quickly kicked the gun out of the first agent's hand. It clanged against the door with a loud thud. Then in a single fluid motion she spun and delivered a backhanded kick to the other agent directly into his groin. He didn't exactly thud when he went down. It was more like a howling heap. The first agent was still standing there shaking his hand in pain from where Sarah had kicked him. The good news was that her patented left foot to his jaw quickly ended the pain in his hand. The bad news was that it also ended his night.

Sarah took a moment to admire the carnage she had just wrought, in about ten seconds. That had been a little fun… exactly the emotional release she needed. She picked up the gun from the floor then stepped up to the agent with the knife who was still helplessly writhing on the floor in agony, both his hands clutching… well, the affected area.

Sarah kicked the knife that he had dropped to the floor out of reach. "Who taught you how to hold a knife?" she asked sarcastically. "Did you learn from watching late night cooking shows on cable? Incompetent spies piss me off. It reflects badly on my profession." Then she grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back forcing him to look at her. "I'm talking to you," she said with zero humor. "Didn't your mama ever tell you that it's rude to not look at someone when they're talking to you? My partner would like a chance to distract you now. Please act a little distracted. But it also wouldn't do to overdo it. It's her first week." This head smacked back on the floor as soon as Sarah released it with a loud thud. "We're trying to give her some confidence… not a big head."

Then she turned to Ellie who was still standing there with her mouth hanging open at Sarah's incredible display. "Go ahead," Sarah said in a faux serious, teasing tone. "Show me what you had in mind. Distract him. After all, I shouldn't have all the fun. This has to be about sex, right? The most common technique would be to unbutton some buttons on your shirt, lean forward, and give him a look at some cleavage. That works sometimes. But it usually isn't enough. You could always take the shirt totally off. I hate to have to tell you this, but I'm afraid that no matter how many clothes you take off any sex with this creep is going to be even more unsatisfying than it normally would… for a few hours anyway. That's okay. We can wait. We're stuck here for a while anyway."

Ellie finally got her wits mostly back. "You do realize," she said in faux sarcasm. "That you're never less attractive then when you're gloating."

That got them both laughing.

"Okay," Ellie finally sighed. "Point well taken. So maybe sex isn't always the answer. I guess that maybe I've misjudged you a little. Chuck is right. You're a total bad ass."

Sarah motioned to the porter, who was also still standing there with his mouth also open. "Are those our sandwiches?" she asked, trying hard to keep from helplessly laughing again at the look of pure fear on his face… and failing miserably. "Bring them in."

"I suddenly find that I'm hungry."

x-x-x-x-x

"We're engaged?" Chuck asked. "When did that happen?"

Jill stuck out her left hand… with the huge rock. "You don't remember giving me this, do you?" she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry that you don't remember. Chuck, it was so romantic."

And actually Chuck did remember. He remembered the moment exactly. Except that it wasn't romantic at all. Jill was making that part up to push his buttons. In fact, it was anti romantic. Giving Jill that ring and helping her escape was one of those things that he had put off telling Sarah about. That had been tugging at his conscience for a while now anyway. If they were going to have 'the talk' it simply had to be put on the table. And it was almost as big a screw up as Prague. Not quite. But what he did with Jill that day while Sarah was getting shot at in the process of trying to protect him… pretty big screw up. Especially since Jill had already tried to kill her once.

Hopefully enough water had crossed over that dam so Sarah would be able to see the humor. But Chuck had to admit. That wasn't very likely. Sarah was pretty fiery. A few nights on the couch and some serious groveling were a definite possibility. But for now, he had a mission to deal with. So he put the confused look on his face. "Why don't I remember?" he asked. "And who is this rich guy who is protecting us?"

Jill's smile turned… into something else. "I'll tell you all about it," she, well, she basically purred… like a cat stalking her prey. She stepped directly in front of him, reached for the hem of her shirt, and slowly lifted it over her head. She smiled seductively as she held the shirt over her now bare chest for a moment them allowed it to slide to the floor. "Let's talk in the hot tub."

Chuck could only sigh as she watched her quickly pull off her slacks, kick them to the side, and then slowly, clearly for effect, slide down her cotton panties. She just stood there and posed naked for him for a long moment. Someday, maybe he'd be able to see the humor in this ridiculous situation. After all, Jill was being pretty transparent. Why he didn't remember was something that she clearly didn't want him to ask many details about. So she was going to use sex to distract him, knowing that he wouldn't protest. Then later she would be able to claim that she had told him everything. Pretty clever. But currently, humor was the last thing on Chuck's mind. He was as pissed as he had ever been in his life. For one thing, here was another unpleasant scene that he would have to describe to a fiery Sarah.

Chuck knew there was no way to believably hide his anger. So maybe it was something that he could use to his advantage. "What are you doing, Jill?" he snapped. "Now? Really? Since when do you ever allow me to see you naked?" It was true. Jill was always fanatically insistent that the room be totally dark before getting undressed… on those rare occasions that she actually allowed herself to get naked that is. The irony was that there was a time in his life when Chuck would have given almost anything to see the sight currently standing there before him in the full light of day. Now he just turned away in disgust.

"I know," Jill said sadly. To Chuck's huge surprise, she actually sounded contrite. The surprise of her tone caused him to turn back and look at her.

"I've been such a bitch to you," Jill continued. "I used sex to control you. I made you come crawling begging for it, doled it out to keep you on the hook, and refused it to keep you from becoming comfortable. I'm really sorry about that. Baby, you were my first serious boyfriend. This is not an excuse, but I was young. I didn't know what else to do. I was always in charge of myself. But them I met you… I knew that I was falling hard… and soon I would be emotionally helpless. That scared me. So I used sex to keep some control over things. I'm not very proud of that. It messed you up a little. I'm honestly sorry."

Chuck looked into her eyes. He realized that, in this one small detail, Jill Roberts was actually telling him the truth. Oh, it didn't make any difference. She was still an evil bitch playing on his emotions, probably just for money. "Okay," was all he said.

Jill took a deep breath. "That's over now," she said with much more confidence. "Now, whatever you want from me, you get… period, nothing off the table. I owe you that." She slowly got back her smile. "I'm actually looking forward to you calling me on that. I know you're shy about these things. But there must be some wild kinky fantasies buried in there somewhere in your massive brain. This is your night to let them out to play. So can we get in the hot tub and I can prove it to you? I promise that you'll have a good time."

Chuck knew that he couldn't possibly get in that tub with a naked Jill Roberts and explain it to Sarah with any hope of surviving the explanation process. Maybe a stall would work. "It's too soon," he said sadly. "I'm not ready for this big of a change. I need some time to adjust. Can you maybe put on your swimsuit?"

"Sorry, baby," Jill said. "I don't have one. I'm afraid that you don't either. I'll tell you what. I'll sit down in the water so you can't see anything until you're ready to play. I'm pretty sure that won't take you long. I'll turn my head until you're in."

Chuck sighed to himself. _Damn, she just called my bluff._ He wasn't really sure how Sarah would feel. After all, this was a mission… an important mission. But they were together, would someday be married. How much spy would she expect him to sacrifice to be a good husband? And conversely how much husband would she expect him to sacrifice to be a good spy. One thing was for sure. If he was going to screw up, it was going to be on the side of being the husband. "I need to send Ellie and Morgan an email," he said. "They must be worried sick."

"Chuck," Jill said with a warning sigh.

"I know," Chuck interrupted. "I won't tell them anything. I'll tell them that I'm okay and you and I are going away for a few days. I just don't want them to worry."

"That's sweet," Jill said as she finally stepped into the tub. "But that's not the only issue. That Sarah Walker bitch will certainly be monitoring your sister's and Morgan's email. The second you send them something it'll lead her right to us."

"Come on, Jill," Chuck said honestly offended. "Do you really think I can be that sloppy? I'll bounce it off so many relay servers using contrived aliases that it would take twenty years for anybody to track it down… even the CIA."

"I'm sorry," Jill said with a grin. "I almost forgot who I was talking to. Remember that time Bryce wrote those fake emails and you made them look real? You had the entire Campus Facility thinking that Tom Cruise was going to donate a million dollars to Stanford?"

If spite of Chuck's mood, that got them both laughing. "They were going to name a building in his honor," Chuck said as soon as he could stop laughing. "They actually ordered the plaque."

Fortunately, Jill didn't allow for Chuck's mood to stay good for very long. "Maybe we should let her find us," she said as her grin turned evil. "That's a good idea."

"I'd really like to introduce that bitch to my new superman."

x-x-x-x-x

The CIA small army had come and gone. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Berkshire. He must have been tipped off somehow that they were coming. Team B was just getting ready to discuss their next move when Sarah's laptop clanged.

_Sarah,_

_I don't know what to do. This is all getting too real. She wants me to capture you and turn you over to her big money man. I'd really like to get in position to know what they want. But it's getting harder and harder to keep my cover. She's getting pretty touchy feely._

_I need you here to help me a little. Okay, I'll admit. I really miss you and that's part of it. But it is risky. So I'll let you decide. If you show up at the Baltimore Hotel Monaco Penthouse Suite by 10:00, I'll capture you and we'll keep up the cover. Otherwise I'll arrest Jill and contact Beckman on how to find you._

_I love you._

_Our regular bet to keep up appearances._

_I'll bet that Jill will allow me to ravage the prisoner before turning her over. She's kinda got sex on the brain. :)_

_Chuck_

Ellie and Casey were both looking over a shoulder while Sarah looked at her laptop.

"It was smart for Morgan to have Alex's friend at work send this," Casey said. "Even with it being encrypted, having anybody connected to us send you an email would have been suspicious."

Sarah's eyes were flashing. "I know," she said. "We'll have to find a way to thank them."

"What does he mean by your regular bet?" Ellie asked.

"We spar in the gym sometimes," Sarah said. "It's fun and it keeps us in shape. Well, if Chuck used the Intersect, I'd have no chance. And if he didn't use the Intersect, he wouldn't have a chance. So we devised some rules that make us pretty even. We have a running bet. He wins sometimes and I win sometimes."

"What does the winner get?"

You could hear Casey's groan from the next county. "Oh my God!" he said. "Did you really have to ask her that?"

Sarah made sure that only Ellie could see her gloating smirk. "How much do you want to know?" she asked joining Ellie's sport. "Winner gets to pick the bedroom 'activities' for the entire night. The details can get fairly vivid. For being shy, he can come up with some very interesting 'activities.' Sometimes I lose on purpose, just to see what he'll come up with."

Ellie fought to keep from laughing at Casey standing there, sadly shaking his head. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm going to win," Sarah said. "I might have said that sometimes I don't mind losing. But I always enjoy winning. I always ask for the same thing. Chuck is truly a genius at paying off. The man has an amazing talent."

This time Casey's groan was more introspective. "This is a nightmare," he muttered.

That got Ellie and Sarah openly laughing at him. "Well," Sarah finally said. "Take care of my partner."

"I will," Casey said.

That got Sarah laughing again. "I was actually talking to Ellie," she said.

"You need to be careful," Casey said, ignoring her mild shot. "Jill Roberts wouldn't mind doing you some serious harm."

"I will," Sarah said. "Chuck will protect me. I actually would mind doing Jill Roberts some serious harm." Then she got more serious. "We might as well get on with it."

"It looks like it's going to be Chuck vs. Sarah."

x-x-x-x-x


End file.
